My Review of "A Man Named Otto"

A Man Named Otto is a dramedy that came out back in 2022. It's a very rough start because the main character is very unlikeable in the beginning. As the story progresses, you kind of see why he is the way he is and start to really enjoy this movie. If you have patience, like the characters in this movie, then you will have a great time.

The movie starts off with a very surly old man named Otto. He gets introduced to us by complaining about string at a hardware store. The employees of the store are only following orders yet Otto goes the extra mile to make this a tough time for them.

I can handle grumpy people, but this was different. Usually, the grumpy people are mean to the people trying to bother them. Otto goes out of his way to make problems with innocent people. For a self-professed smart guy, he should know people's limitations and what they're capable of doing. Yet he goes on to berate a number of people that don't deserve any of it.

All this changes when a new neighbor shows up to his neighborhood. This is the point where the movie should have started off. The new neighbor, Marisol, has moved in with her husband and two kids. Marisol is pregnant and looking to build a new life for herself. She's a very high spirited woman and her jovial attitude is quite infectious.

I guess this is why Otto kind of lets his guard down to help her out with some of the things she's got to do. This is when the movie really starts to build some color and let in some life. We start getting introduced to neighbors in his little community. That's also when we learn more of the backstory of Otto and the neighbors that live in there.

This portion of the movie starts to become a community affair. I liked this section of the movie way more than the beginning but it does take some time to get to this point. Otto's whole community is quite caring and tight knit. The question comes in as to how Otto had strayed so far from the community to become the person that he is.

At the essence, the reveal of this is what makes up the fun of this movie. This sense of community brings a much needed warmth to the movie. Though, the story behind Otto's tragic fall is pretty sad. We start to see why he's become the person he is and I guess forgive him a little for the earlier antics.

There is also a bit of crazy coincidence throughout this movie that can be played off as comedy. They lightly play on some pretty serious situations and I like that they were able to play off some of these jokes. I think some of the runtime could have been better spent in the quality of of the relationships between each of the characters. We understand that Otto is a mean guy but we don't have to emphasize this all the time. I would have liked to see a better progression of what was changing Otto.

In addition, I wished they would more clearly display the passages of time in this movie. It's well understood that time has passed from certain scenes to other scenes but I was curious how much time. They don't really go into any of that and I can understand why. Still it would have been nice if they made things a little more clear.

Overall, I did have a good time with this movie but I had to trudge through the first portion of this movie to get to it. If you have the patience to deal with Otto, you'll have a great time with this movie. I guess that could have been done on purpose since the characters of the movie did the same thing. I have to give this movie a 7 out of 10.